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New National Curriculum: first look

8 July 2013, Alex Stevens

The Department for Education today released details of the
proposed new national curriculum, expected to come into effect in
September 2014, with music a statutory requirement up to Key Stage 3 (up to age
14).

The structure for music is subtly different from that
proposed at the beginning of a consultation process launched in February,
adding references to improvisation and music technology.

The consultation officially closes on 8 August but today’s
document is a good representation of what teachers in maintained schools will
be working to from 2014.

It says that the purpose of studying music is to ‘engage and
inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so
increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement,’ so that
pupils eventually develop ‘a critical engagement with music, allowing them to
compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon’.

The work of great musicians has been added to that of ‘great
composers’ as a central pillar of the programme, aiming to ensure that all
pupils ‘perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of
historical periods, genres, styles and traditions’.

Pupils should ‘learn to sing and to use their voices, to
create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to
learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the
opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence’.

Musical creation is addressed, with improvisation now added
to composition as a skill which should be taught at age 7 to 14 (KS2&KS3).

Pupils should be taught both staff and other types of
notation in KS2 and KS3, raising the possibility that from 2021, all
14-year-olds could be music readers.

Michael Gove called it ‘a tougher, more rigorous national
curriculum’ and placed children’s education in the context of a competitive
global economy. ‘It will raise standards across the board and allow our
children to compete in the global race,’ he said.

David Cameron said: ‘As a parent this is exactly the kind of
thing I want my children to be learning. And as prime minister I know this
revolution in education is critical for Britain’s prosperity in the decades to
come.’